You Are Not Meant to Push Through
Reclaiming the Wisdom of the Feminine Cycle
The day before I recorded this week’s podcast, Hazel messaged me.
“I’m not sure I have the energy for tomorrow…”
She was entering her pre-menstrual phase.
That tender, inward, often exhausted place so many of us know well.
And instead of cancelling the conversation, we chose to speak from there.
Not from the polished, energised, “on” version of ourselves.
But from the real place. The cyclical place.
And that felt important.
Because for decades — maybe centuries — women have been taught to override this part of themselves.
You’ll remember the adverts.
The ones that told us to insert a tampon, take a paracetamol, put on white shorts and roller-skate across the seafront as though nothing was happening.
As though bleeding was an inconvenience.
As though our hormones were a flaw.
As though productivity was the goal.
There was never space for:
“I’m tired.”
“I need quiet.”
“I feel thin-skinned.”
“I need to turn inward.”
Instead, we were taught to push through.
And we did.
And if you have no idea why this picture of a woman skating is here in a blog talking about feminine cycles and pushing through, you need to listen to the podcast, and/or cast your mind back to the day when adverts on the TV, taught us about our cycle……oh and pushing through!
The Cost of Pushing Through
The problem is not that we are cyclical.
The problem is that we built a world that isn’t.
A world that values linear output.
Constant energy.
Uninterrupted performance.
And so the pre-menstrual phase — the autumn of our inner world — became something to medicate, dismiss, or hide.
But what if that week isn’t a malfunction?
What if it’s information?
What if the exhaustion is your body saying:
Slow down.
Listen.
Pay attention.
In our conversation, Hazel and I spoke about how different it feels when you stop fighting your cycle and start collaborating with it.
When you plan creatively around it.
When you allow rest before bleed.
When you trust the irritability as insight.
When you recognise the sensitivity as heightened perception.
There is enormous clarity available in the days before we bleed.
But only if we stop numbing it.
Living Cyclically in a Linear World
Hazel has spent 14 years bringing her oracle into form. Fourteen years.
That alone tells you something about devotion, gestation, rhythm.
The feminine does not rush.
The feminine does not produce on command.
The feminine moves in waves.
Creation, rest.
Expansion, contraction.
Expression, retreat.
Yet so many women feel shame when they cannot maintain the same energy all month.
We apologise for being tired.
We apologise for being emotional.
We apologise for cancelling.
But perhaps the real apology is owed to ourselves.
Because the week before your period is not weakness.
It is the most intuitive phase of your cycle.
It is when your body removes the filters.
When truth surfaces.
When your inner critic sharpens — not to destroy you — but to reveal what is out of alignment.
If we honoured that week instead of fighting it, how differently might we live?
The Deep Feminine Way
Reclaiming cyclical living is not about becoming softer or smaller.
It is about becoming wiser.
It is about recognising that our energy is not meant to mirror the masculine structure of:
Go. Achieve. Produce. Repeat.
It is meant to mirror the moon.
Waxing.
Full.
Waning.
Dark.
And the dark is not failure.
The dark is fertile.
When Hazel showed up to that conversation tired, she wasn’t less powerful.
She was more honest.
And that honesty is the doorway.
Because when one woman says,
“I don’t have the energy to push today,”
She gives others permission to say it too.
Your Cycle Is Intelligence
What if the pre-menstrual phase is your body clearing resentment?
What if the tears are release?
What if the frustration is clarity?
What if the desire to withdraw is a sacred reset?
We are not broken for needing rest.
We are wise.
Living cyclically doesn’t mean you stop showing up in your life.
It means you show up differently depending on where you are in your rhythm.
It means planning the launch during ovulation.
Scheduling admin during follicular clarity.
Resting before bleed.
Dreaming in the dark moon.
It means honouring the intelligence of your body instead of overriding it.
And that is revolutionary.
A Question for You
Where are you pushing through right now?
Where are you overriding your body’s whispers?
And what would change if you trusted your cycle instead of fighting it?
This week’s podcast episode with Hazel Golden is an invitation back to rhythm.
Back to the deep feminine.
Back to remembering that you are not meant to skate across the seafoam while bleeding.
You are meant to listen.
If this speaks to you, share it with a sister.
The remembering happens woman by woman.
With love,
Laura x
And catch the podcast here: AROUND THE KITCHEN TABLE
